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You read this title correctly. With the right planning, delaying your company’s transfer of ownership could make sense. Still, that doesn’t mean you delay your succession planning. Consider this scenario: • You are the working owner of a music store, and you own the building. • Your child or valued employee is the manager. • You have a simple I-love-you will. (Following your death, all the company’s stock goes to your spouse.) • You have been depreciating the value of your building for 15 years, and as a consequence, the IRS is demanding a “recapture” tax the moment you accept a n

So often, real-life stories emerge from memorable events, and those stories get passed on for a lifetime. At my business, Wentworth Music, we’ve created such notable stories and a local buzz year after year by being active in the community and holding special events. The result has been increased publicity, marketing and free advertising. More importantly, Wentworth Music’s signature events and stories regularly attract the media from all over and have caused people to associate us with music and community. Here are a few highlights of our community involvement from the past year

Music retailers don’t have to be left behind in the connected world of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Social media lets you reach potential customers at a lower cost and in unique ways. At the 2016 NAMM Show, Ben Ash, director of social media at Sam Ash Music, showed how to get social with your retail business and savvy with managing your social media presence. Here are highlights from the session video. Four Rules for Social Media Use Ash offered four essential points to consider as you use social networking sites: 1. Be consistent. Post every day of the week, including weekend

How many of you want satisfied customers? At the 2016 NAMM Show, Tracy Leenman of Musical Innovations challenged music retailers to go a step further. She shared the best practices that have helped make her store NAMM’s 2015 Dealer of the Year and the Top 100 Award winner for Best Customer Service—revealing how to build loyal, exclusive customers. Leenman’s best customer-service tips follow. Start with why. Leenman suggested reading the book Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek. What’s your why? Is it to get everyone involved in music? I

How many of you want satisfied customers? At the 2016 NAMM Show, Tracy Leenman of Musical Innovations challenged music retailers to go a step further. She shared the best practices that have helped make her store NAMM’s 2015 Dealer of the Year and the Top 100 Award winner for Best Customer Service—revealing how to build loyal, exclusive customers. Leenman’s best customer-service tips follow. Start with why. Leenman suggested reading the book Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek. What’s your why? Is it to get everyone involved in music? I

Have you invested in your music lesson programs and watched the money drain from your store, rather than go back in your pocket? At the 2016 NAMM Show, Joel Bertrand of Bertrand’s Music shared three powerful strategies that he’s used to build his lesson program and bring in more students—between 200 to more than 1,200 at five locations throughout southern California. Bertrand encouraged music retailers to bring these lesson-building ideas to life in their own stores. Strategy 1: Teacher RetentionRetain teachers for the long haul. Bertrand suggested you ask yourself, “What is the m

What’s keeping you from getting found by the customers you want? Strap in and hold on as marketing guru Jeffrey Hayzlett delivers a bold, no-nonsense approach to driving change. Hayzlett, a best-selling author and the primetime television host of C-Suite and Executive Perspectives, looks at how to get results with online and social marketing. He’ll lead you through the necessary components to create an effective social media strategy, then guide you through implementation. Find out how to get your team aligned and on-board to drive change with your marketing—and within your busine

Even successful music retailers make common website mistakes—often unknowingly. Discover the top five website blunders and how they impact your online success. Most importantly, find out how these mistakes get made and how they can be corrected. Join Sean Roylance, founder of Rain, who will walk you through problems with website content and design. You’ll leave with an understanding of how to better market your site, increase conversion rates and make more sales.

At 2015 Summer NAMM, Brian Reardon revealed how a year-round promotions calendar helps create steady traffic and a balanced cash flow for his store, Monster Music. According to Reardon, it’s never too early to plan and stay ahead of the seasonal ups and downs using income-generating promotions. He admitted he tends to focus his promotions on the summer months, when business is traditionally slow, and noted that summer is a good time to get started. “Tailor your promotions to your store’s niche and community calendars, and adjust as you go,” Reardon said. He then gave the audience

At 2015 Summer NAMM, Mike Ross of Sweetwater Sound presented a big-picture session on making the most of your website—an issue that affects every music retailer and business owner, small and large. He encouraged retailers to take a closer look at their websites as a vital marketing tactic for continued success. Here are website best practices from the NAMM U session. (And make sure to watch the end of the session video for more information from the Q&A.) How do you know your website is good, working and worth it? Ross urged retailers to start by asking themselves some key ques

At 2015 Summer NAMM, Mike Ross of Sweetwater Sound presented a big-picture session on making the most of your website—an issue that affects every music retailer and business owner, small and large. He encouraged retailers to take a closer look at their websites as a vital marketing tactic for continued success. Here are website best practices from the NAMM U session. (And make sure to watch the end of the session video for more information from the Q&A.) How do you know your website is good, working and worth it? Ross urged retailers to start by asking themselves some key ques

In an eye-opening NAMM U session at 2015 Summer NAMM, Robert Christie of A & G Central Music revealed the many benefits of offering maintenance agreements. He covered the nuts and bolts, from putting together a maintenance agreement to possible pitfalls. Christie shared the obvious financial advantage of offering maintenance agreements—and added that having a deep pool of agreements maximizes the opportunity. “The more you sell, the better position you’ll be in,” he said. Christie also pointed out that the real power of the maintenance agreement lies in having satisfied custom